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Doug Merlino was selected as a FRONTLINE/World Fellow in summer 2003. He will finish dual master's degrees in journalism and international studies at the University of California at Berkeley in spring 2004. |
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INTRODUCTION
In just three months in 1994, an estimated 800,000 Rwandans, out of a population of 7 million, were slaughtered in a state-led genocide. This was a massive, organized attempt to eliminate the Tutsi ethnic group from the country. An international tribunal to try the organizers who planned and incited the killing has been set up in Tanzania. But that tribunal will handle the cases of only a few leaders.
Tens of thousands of other Rwandans are still imprisoned on charges of participating in the genocide. The Rwandan government recently began setting up local courts -- called gacaca -- to deal with these lower-level cases. These gacaca courts represent a countrywide effort to dig for the truth, press for confessions and fashion some form of reconciliation.
I traveled to Rwanda in July 2003 hoping to observe the courts in session and see this social experiment up close. From the moment I arrived in the country, I discovered -- as my email dispatches over 20 days reflect -- that Rwanda's gacaca experience is far more complicated, interesting and fragile than you might expect.
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Email Dispatches:
Read Doug Merlino's on-the-scene email dispatches from Rwanda.
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In Their Own Words:
Witness the Rwanda tragedy through the personal stories of a perpetrator, a victim, and a human rights activist.
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